Ottawa Committing $2.6 Billion to NATO Defence Operation in Europe

Prime MInister Justin Trudeau speaks during a joint press conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 10, 2023. (Alexey Furman/Getty Images)

Canada is committing $2.6 billion in defence spending toward the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) largest overseas mission, based in Latvia, amid consistent calls from NATO for member countries to spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on defence measures.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement on July 10 in Riga, Latvia, ahead of the NATO Leaders’ Summit this week where Mr. Trudeau and Defence Minister Anita Anand will meet with a number of world leaders and NATO officials.

The $2.6 billion in federal funding will go toward CAF’s “Operation REASSURANCE,” which was established in Latvia in 2014 after NATO agreed on a series of military measures “based on the principles of defence, deterrence and de-escalation meant to reinforce NATO’s collective defence.”

Canada will be begin the funding in the 2023-24 fiscal year and will use it to “renew and expand” the operation over the course of three years.

Canada currently has around 800 CAF troops stationed in Latvia who are working with the country’s military and NATO allies, but the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said on July 10 that up to 2,200 troops will be “persistently deployed” over the next several years as part of the renewal of Operation REASSURANCE.

“Canada is also ready to deploy additional surge personnel for allied crisis response, cooperative security, and collective defence,” the PMO said in a press release.

The PMO said Canada will also “procure and pre-position critical weapon systems, enablers, supplies and support intelligence, cyber, and space activities to fulfill pledges made under the Canada-Latvia Joint Declaration of June 2022,” and continue supporting NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group in Latvia.

NATO Defence Spending

Mr. Trudeau’s announcement that Ottawa will be committing $2.6 billion toward Operation REASSURANCE over the next several years comes amid calls from NATO for all member countries to commit at least 2 percent of their GDP toward defence spending—a target Canada hasn’t met since NATO established the requirement in 2006.

In 2022, Canada’s military spending fell to just 1.27 percent of its GDP, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in February that all member countries should set firm requirements and timelines for meeting the target.

However, the Washington Post reported in April that a leaked Pentagon assessment said Mr. Trudeau “told NATO officials that Canada will never reach 2% defense spending.”

Mr. Trudeau responded to the report on on April 19 by saying that Canada is a “reliable partner to NATO, a reliable partner around the world, and with our military investments.”

The prime minister also said at the time that his government would “continue to be working on investing in giving the support necessary to the men and women of the Canadian Forces to deliver.”